Tag: Cooking

About a year ago, I wrote a story about a phenomenal then 8yr old young man by the name of Jalen Bailey whom was cooking up pies and cookies in his kitchen, and these weren’t just any ordinary cookies and pies for the local bake sale at school or church but had become a lifestyle job for Jalen, whom was destined to make his passion into a profit that would help both he and his mom. Jalen Bailey was using his gift of “baking” to its fullest potential. I wanted to re-share this story to shed even more light on Jalen and his skills and to inform you of how you can get your very own order from Jalen’s bakery. Now that Valentine’s Day or V-Day as I like to call it is fastly approaching, you too can get your hands on some of Jalen’s delectable sweets for either yourself or that special someone in your life. Jalen’s bakery has been doing so great, it caught the eye of Rachel Ray, YESSSSS! the number one chief herself asked Jalen to be a guest on her show. You can read all about Jalen and his reason for baking below as well as watch his appearance on Rachel Ray. I’ll have links below so you follow Jalen’s Bakery Journey and while you’re at it – you can get your yummy order in as well!!

“I said I wanted to be a millionaire. I thought that wasn’t possible but now I think it is.” Jalen Bailey

Those are the words of 8-year-old Jalen Bailey who started in a baking company called “Jalen’s Bakery” right out of his mom’s small kitchen. Seeing how tiny their kitchen and house was, Jalen decided to put his gift to work by baking and selling cookies –not to get new toys, but to buy his mom a house.

According toHUFF POST, Jalen doesn’t use a cook book, but bakes all of those yummy goods from scratch! This includes his specialty peanut butter cookies, banana nut muffins and vanilla cake in a jar. Just the thought of all of those goodies are making me hungry. The prices for the treats range anywhere from $5 to $15 dollars. He and his mom will even deliver them too you (but only if you’re local).

Jalen’s mom, Sharhonda Mahan, who is a single mother, is his biggest supporter and a business-owner herself. So for Jalen starting his own business didn’t come as much of a surprise to her. According to Sharhonda, Jalen has been receiving many requests for orders and has also baked for his first event in which a vendor offered to purchase a bigger stove for him to keep baking more and more tasty goods.

“He’s very excited. It seems like the more orders he gets, the more excited he gets and the more serious he gets about his business.”

Seeing how passionate and driven her son has been for the past two years about baking and the many requests which floor their door, Sharhonda recently started a GOFUNDME page so that Jalen can start shipping to customers nationwide. The goal is $10,000 for Jalen to own a house, raise funding for college, give back to the community and learn the life of being a young entrepreneur. While this seems like a tall order for an 8-year-old; with Jalen’s drive, his mom’s support and their now booming business, I believe he will be able to complete everything on his list and more.

To keep up with Jalen and find out what he’s cooking up next, you can follow him on one of the social media sites below:

The goal of 10K was met, the link to the GoFundMe page above is new and was created so Jalen can help and give back to the community, his goal 2 months ago was to raise enough money to be able to giveaway 200 coats and socks to kids in need. But please visit the page as there are other philanthropy goals that Jalen is doing. What an Inspiration, Way to Go Jalen!!!

Macaroni and Cheese has always been one of my favorite southern comfort foods, I am a big fan of cheese and when you mix that with some pasta, let’s just say….it’s a match made in heaven. While I can’t have mac and cheese on a regular like I would like due to me having to keep a close watch on the carbs, I was very happy when I found this recipe in which incorporated pumpkin in the recipe and with all of pumpkins great benefits, this recipe was proving to not only be good for the body but decrease sugar levels as well.

So I was very excited to be able to fix this recipe but mostly I couldn’t wait to taste it – I mean, I have to be real with you – it’s not every day that you hear about people putting pumpkin in the ooey, gooey mac and cheese so I was a little skeptical at first, I’m a person that falls in love with food based on the taste, not the look – so I knew if the taste wasn’t great then this recipe was going to go down in smokes as there was no plan B!

But to my surprise, this recipe was not only easy (my favorite word) but exceeded my taste expectations as well. If you need a quick, wholesome and nutritious meal to fix or dinner tonight or any night this week, then grab your pens and paper and follow me below as I share the ingredients and cooking instructions to this cheesy surprise!

The Ingredients you’ll need are here:

8 Ingredients are all you need!!

And the Recipe goes a little something like this:

1 package (16 oz) elbow macaroni

1/4 cup butter (unsalted)

1/4 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 oz)

Directions are as Follows:

Heat oven to 350°F. Cook and drain macaroni as directed on package, using minimum cook time.

Add macaroni to cheese sauce and stir until coated. Pour into greased 3-quart casserole. Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Optional: If you choose to use bread crumbs, as I did. You’ll melt a tablespoon of unsalted butter in a small pan until all melted then you’ll add in a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and stir them around in the butter until they are coated, like below..

Now, for my Before and After Pics ~

Step #2 – All ingredients mixed in

Everything is mixed & Looking Good!

Step #3 Macaroni added, making this look even more delicious!

Before: Moved to Oiled pan with Breadcrumbs

After: Baked for 20min, Umm, So Good!

Now, Let’s Dress this Yummy Goodness Up!!

I completed this Cheesy dish with a side of Spinach salad and a piece of boneless, skinless baked chicken thigh and topped it off with a glass of Key Lime Sparkling water and VIOLA! dinner is served!!! This dish was so good, you could taste the pumpkin a little, it was cheesy and surely a better alternative than using powdered cheese, I really loved how healthy this dish was, It was truly a very good “guilty” pleasure.

As you can see, a little pumpkin can go a long way…I would suggest adding it in a couple of your meals for an extra added boost of nutrition. This recipe was provided by Betty Croker and if you want to make it for yourself or your family, just go here

Now I have to say, my son and daughter didn’t care for this so well, so if you have children, it may be a less non-desired taste for them but there are many ways you can boost this recipe up, by simply adding more cheese and maybe some bacon as your topping. You also don’t have to use a whole can or cup of pumpkin – you can reduce that to a smaller portion of a 1/2 cup or less. I hope you enjoy this nice twist to a very common southern classic. You might even want to plate up some tonight!

Thursday is the last recipe for the month – I’ll be ending the great pumpkin series with a little dessert, so stay tuned!

Did you hear about the giveaway??

To kick off the pumpkin festivities I thought I would do a giveaway – I love to receive things and I know you might too. I’m giving away a $25.00 gift card, here’s what you have to do and how to enter:

Follow @justsuminspiration2u on Instagram

Post a picture of you with one of the 5 recipes featured this month with the caption: “Pumpkins Up! @justsuminspiration2u is doing a giveaway! Enter for a chance to win at justsuminspiration.com.”

That’s It! That’s all you have to do – Remember, you have to make one of the recipes, follow me on Instagram, post your picture of you and the recipe of choice and include the italicized statement with your post. Good Luck!!

The Winner will be announced November 3, 2017 at 1:00pm on the Justsuminspiration blog, Facebook and Instagram pages. Winners will be selected randomly from the list of entries submitted.